The Bridge: Living In Fear, 2012

“America is filled with terror from North to South and we thank God.” – Osama bin Laden

“Either you are with us, or with the terrorists.” -George Bush

Darryl James

*America is supposed to be the greatest nation on earth. Its citizens are supposed to live better than any other nation.

But that just isn’t true. And it hasn’t been true for most Americans for a very long time.

America has been creating a great divide between the “haves,” which are secure, comfortable and ensconced in the American promise of wealth; and the “have nots,” which are insecure, uncomfortable and constantly in fear.

In 2001, that fear was shared with the entire nation, when the nation was attacked and filled with terror.

Flash forward eleven years and while our president hunted down and killed the man thought responsible for the nation’s terror, the citizens still live in fear.

Some citizens live in fear of the never-dissipating threat of terror, which may never leave America.

Some citizens fear the terror from within the borders of America, in the form of constant economic turmoil.

And some citizens fear nothing more than a Black president.

When dimwitted George Bush hunted down and killed Saddam Hussein, the nation gave him credit for taking down a major figure in the reign of terror. Yet, when President Barack Obama hunted down and killed the main figure, Osama bin Laden, many dimwitted Americas want to do anything but give him credit.

Their ultimate fear? Four more years of a Black president.

And these dumb ass Americans are so racist, vile and stupid that they allow their fear to stand stronger than reason, and so pretend away any good the current president has done in favor of continuing to view him in a negative light.

These ignorant bags of crap are willing to pretend that Sarah Palin has a brain, that Mitt Romney has a soul, or that the Rethuglican party has a heart.

And, frankly, I fear the collective stupidity, carelessness and anti-patriotism found in the clownish antics of the Rethuglicans and their closet racist friends the Tea Party.

I fear them because they are ushering the age of racism back to the forefront of America, threatening to blind any real pursuit of American ideals with the wasted, ugly rhetoric of race.

But mostly I fear them because other Americans are actually taking them seriously.

Taking these ignorant, hateful fools seriously would mean jeopardizing an already tenuous economy by providing tax breaks to the rich and taking benefits from the poor.

It would also mean an upheaval in the world economy with a focus on greed and the preservation of the rich and greedy.

It would mean a return to lashing out at any voice that is divergent from the leadership of this nation.

So, in this, an election year, we can focus on the terror from outside of America, or we can focus on the terror within.

I choose to focus primarily on the terror within America, because when someone is in the house, they are better able to wreak havoc on the security than someone outside seeking to tamper with the relative safety and comfort that America could once again enjoy.

Anyone who is awake and aware realizes that we should be as frightened of what could come from abroad as what could come from having an idiot like Romney in the White House, who would just push for more global business opportunities for his friends.

And, any of us who are humanitarian should be frightened that following the national tragedy, many Americans had all but forgotten the pre-existing tragedies like the homeless, the poor and the starving–the huddled masses yearning to be free.

If we are not careful, we will virtually assure that American can never again go back to living in relative fearlessness about violence visiting our shores.

America is a nation of many races, and because it has crushed, killed and destroyed many other peoples along the way to creating your “way of life,” the nation had better take care not to place someone in the white house who does not have a heart for the masses.

Mitt Romney does not.

Immediately following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, I wrote about how sad it was to see an entire nation living in fear. I wrote about how sad it was that so many people in this nation were so afraid that they were willingly giving up their freedom and all rights to individual thought.

Some Stupid Ass Americans were so frightened that in their fear and ignorance, they began lashing out at other Americans of Arabic descent or of Islamic faith.

Eleven years later, we see the same fear, ignorance and willingness to give up freedoms entrenched in the people of this country as much as any other portion of American life.

We are about as safe as we ever were, which means that we really aren’t. But there are ways that we can make this nation and accordingly, the world, a bit safer.

We can reduce American corporate world greed, stop beating on other nations for oil and stop playing world police/bully.

There are also a few things that America should clean up at home first to make it a better nation and less of a hypocrite.

Like American racism, American greed and obfuscated American politics.

Then, perhaps it would make sense to police the world.

And then perhaps we wouldn’t have to live in fear.

Darryl James is an award-winning author of the powerful new anthology “Notes From The Edge.” James’ stage play, “Love In A Day,” opened in Los Angeles in 2001 and will become a feature film in 2012. View previous installments of this column at www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at [email protected].

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